


Picture Perfect

by AccioProphecy



Category: Never Have I Ever (TV)
Genre: Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M, High School, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25856632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AccioProphecy/pseuds/AccioProphecy
Summary: Ben Gross. Smart. Rich. Put together. Confident. Beautiful Eyes. Heart-melting smirk. Perfect Nose. Great looking a-- Let's not get carried away here. He doesn't really know you exist.Will not be posting here anymore. Will be updated on Wattpad and Fanfiction.net
Comments: 7
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

Sherman Oaks High was like any other school. Loud, full of hormones, confusing, sometimes scary and sometimes it could even be the one place to get away from everything. Just make sure you’re sitting in the cleaning closet. 

History. Alice hated that class and she was pretty sure that everyone did too. She just couldn’t wrap around her mind what there was to learn from the past. Was Abraham Lincoln going to help her navigate the rest of her high school life? Was World War 2 going to prepare her for World War 3? The world had changed a lot since then, but, she understood. Math was not particularly useful to her either, she just had to do it.

But the arts. She reveled in the arts. Illustrations and pictures spoke to her better than words did. It was a window out of her dreary, grey world.  
It didn’t help though, that the only thing she was confident in drawing was stick men and stick houses. She sighed a little to herself, half paying attention to Mr. Shapiro and half doodling on her History notebook. 

It’d be lunch time after this. The battle of popularity hit an all time high every lunch break. Everyone had their own table, their own circle of friends. Tables ranged from jocks, wannabe influencers, gossipers, tattletales, singers, Indians, Jews and a hundred more different categories. Alice didn’t blame them, it was easier to stick with your own kind. You’d have a better chance of surviving high school unscathed from bullying and name-calling. 

When the bell rang for lunch Alice found her comfortable place next to Simone, walking together to the cafeteria. It was almost automatic. They were two magnets that clicked together whenever they were in close proximity. Simone was a “stock image” as Alice would call it. Both of them were. 

Simone was Vietnamese-American. Standard straight, long black hair, gracefully slanted eyes, curved, almost round looking nose. Alice on the other hand, she was--

“Yo, Alice Lee!” 

Alice turned in surprise, Simone stopping a step ahead of her. Curious, they both scanned the crowded hallways for the nearly speaker-loud mention of her name. In fact, the whole hall seemed to turn their head towards the voice, only for a moment, before they went back to their own chores. 

There was a handsome looking teenager fast walking towards them. Alice shot a look towards Simone who returned her shocked expression. 

“You’re Alice Lee?” The teen was looking straight at Simone, his chestnut hair messy in places, but frames his face just at the right places. 

Alice put her hand up gingerly, “Uh, actually, that’s me.” The guy pointed a finger at her “Right, you,” and put both his hands on his hips.

“Listen, I hear you take great pictures.” The teen took out his phone and started to scroll at something. A second later he showed the screen of the latest Samsung to Alice. Simone, being considerably taller, peered behind Alice’s shoulder.

“You took this photo right here,” handsome guy said, with more excitement than Alice understood. Alice pressed her glasses upwards, taking a closer look at the photo. She immediately recognized it, “Yeah, that was for the school newspaper… There was an article about prom last year,” she didn’t get what the big deal was.

“Siiiick.” The guy nodded his head in a way that surfboards rode waves “This photo got 289 likes on Instagram!” 

Alice took an even closer look. The Instagram account belonged to none other than prom queen last year, a girl who had already graduated: alyssaxxlove. The caption read: 

“Thanks to everyone for an amazing last year in Sherman Oaks High. Special thanks to my friends who stuck with me through it all, the newspaper club, and my wonderful teachers. I’ll never forget high school! Will miss you all! On to the next chapter!  
Photo credits: Alice Lee (Newspaper Club photographer)”

Fair to say that the photo really showcased Alyssa’s vibrant yellow dress and her face was framed beautifully within the square of the half-body shot. Her smirk was tantalizing and her eyes peered straight through the camera, knocking whoever scrolled past the picture with a slap of reality that made them scroll right back up.

“Right… Okay… Look, she’s a popular girl, I don’t think this has anything to do with the way I took the photo…” Alice started, glancing at her watch, it was 5 minutes past lunch time. 

“Nooo! Look, look, hear me out,” The handsome guy went into an explanation of how Alyssa’s other photos had an average of around 178 likes, implying that the photo Alice took a was deviation from the normal. Alice didn’t know whether this guy was just good at math or he was that desperate.

“Okay, well, thanks for telling me, I guess? Uhh… Me and Simone really gotta get to lunch.” Simone furiously nodded next to her. Frankly she had no idea why they had even been stopped to talk about this.

“Take my photo,” handsome guy said. Alice’s mouth gaped at the sudden statement, Simone couldn’t help be let out a “Huh?” at the guy. 

“Excuse me?” Alice repeated, shaking her head a little, her ponytailed raven hair swaying.

“Take my photo for instagram, get me a couple of likes,” 

“I kind of have a lot of things to do,”

“I’ll pay you!”

Alice stopped at that. Turning to Simone who raised her eyebrows in curiosity. They both looked at each other for a couple of seconds, a silent kind of communication passing between them.

“$10 for 5 photos,” Alice quickly countered, seeing an opportunity to actually get paid for this.

“What if it doesn’t get a 100 likes?” Alice nearly rolled her eyes at the question.

“If it doesn’t get at least a 100 likes, I’ll give you $5 back,” 

The guy’s face lit up and his head bobbed up and down yet again, “Siiiiick, let’s do this tomorrow, deal?”

“Deal.”

and that was how she became the woman behind the pictures.


	2. Chapter 2

In a matter of weeks Alice’s small part-time job of taking Instagram-worthy photos nearly put her up there with the list of popular students. Only, she really wasn’t. Business was business and a nobody was a nobody.

People only approached her when they needed her services, which she didn’t mind. More money for her college fund and hangouts with Simone.

“Hey look, look here’s another one,” Simone piped up, her mouth stuffed with the sandwich she packed herself for lunch. She nudged her mobile phone with her elbow, another Instagram photo on the screen.

“349 likes. Not bad. But Daniel’s got a lot of followers in the first place,” Alice shrugged, remembering the struggle of working with the jock. He wanted his Instagram photo to be “Sporty and cool, but not too cool, like mysterious cool. Like, let’s get outta here kinda cool,” he said while wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

Alice shook her head at the memory. Half of the people in high school were just out here to try and become popular. What a waste of their parents’ money. She did admit that sometimes, when she had extra time in the shower, she daydreamed about what it would be like to get fawned over by a handsome guy.

She was pretty ordinary looking. Not the best, but her Chinese blood gave her monolid cat-like eyes and sharp facial features, just not the perfect ones. “You saving up for anything?” Simone asked, goofy smile on her face,

“If I were you, I’d get the whole series of illustrated Harry Potter books. Illustrated Alice! Just imagine the magic,” Simone disappeared into a far-off land of wizardry, Alice followed suit.

“Fantastic Beasts and magical creatures all drawn and coloured in every page,” Alice sighed, imagining the collection in her library—more like a small ass shelf—at home.

“Oop, I gotta go early today Aly, promised Mr. Grant I’d help with something,” Simone snapped back to reality and devoured the rest of her sandwich.

“See you later,” Alice peeped out through her mouthful of food. She was nearly done here too and just as she was packing up, someone else joined her on the cafeteria table.

At first she didn’t think much of it, he was probably just sitting for a second, tying a loose shoelace or something but when said person didn’t budge from Alice’s peripheral vision for a whole minute, she looked up.

She nearly choked. Ben Gross was sitting in front of her and she was pretty sure that he was looking straight at her. She was in four classes with Ben Gross. AP Literature, AP History, Biology and Algebra II. Not once in those classes did he spare her a glance, not once did they utter a word to each other.

Ben Gross was smart. Nearly everyone on campus knew that. Smart and rich. An automatic ticket to a comfortable life. He and Devi Vishwakumar were always at each other’s throats to see who was the better overachiever. In Alice’s opinion, it was entertaining to watch. What she would never admit to anyone though, was that she thought Ben Gross was actually good eye candy.

Eye candy. Nothing more. Her daydreams didn’t really consist of Ben Gross, those were reserved for the real cute ones. Ben Gross was… He was endearing. Like a fawn. Not daydream material.

“…Can I help you…?” Alice drawled out, scrunching up the rest of her plastics and wrappers into one ball, picking up her tray, ready to bolt.

Ben Gross cleared his throat and smiled at her, rather blindingly “I heard from the grapevine that you’re a remarkable photo-taker.”

Alice had a lightbulb moment. She couldn’t hide her disappointment when she replied “My rates have changed. $10 for 5 photos, additional $10 for every 100 likes you get, if you don’t pay then you’ll be banned from my services for life,” she’d said it automatically. Very robotic and monotone.

“What? No. That’s not what I’m here for,” His face twisted into a type of confusion one would have when they see a Math problem they don’t understand. He cleared his throat once again, his tone slightly more formal “On behalf of the yearbook club, we’d like to welcome you to our team.”

He was serious. His hands were folded together like a very pleased interviewer. Alice’s jaw dropped in shock, “I’m sorry I don’t think I ever applied for that club?” She stood up, red cafeteria tray in her hands and rolled her eyes, walking towards the tray return area.

Ben stood up in a hurry, tailing her. “Oh yeah. Don’t sweat the details. It’ll look good on your college application, no need to thank me.”

Alice dropped off the tray before turning on her heels to yet again look at him incredulously. Ben Gross was not endearing. Not at all. That was a mistake and a daydream she had all concocted in her head.

“My current membership in the newspaper club is also well-received by my college application form. Just to jog your memory, the newspaper club releases a new issue monthly,” Alice stopped for emphasis, Ben had opened his mouth to interject but she had continued talking “aaaand the yearbook club releases a new issue….? When? Oh right it’s a YEARBOOK, it comes out YEARLY. As in, once a year, do you really think that’d look better on my college apps?”

She tilted her head and walked away from him, heading towards her locker. He still followed. Alice was dumbfounded. Why was he so desperate for a photographer? Was she the only decent photographer in school?

“No one said anything about giving up newspaper club,” Ben walked side by side with her, a wide smile still splayed on his face. She didn’t reply until she reached her locker.

“Let me get this right, a total stranger is telling me to work for the yearbook club AND the newspaper club at the same time. I’d rather be fed to sharks, my grades are going to suffer,” Alice countered, shoving her books into the locker and checking her schedule, refusing to look at Ben.

“I’m hardly a stranger,” Ben shrugged “and I’m in 3 clubs, if you haven’t heard, my grades are still top-notch,” He smirked, smug look on his face.

Alice turned her head to raise an eyebrow at him, “Yes, and you have to realize, Ben Gross, that not everyone is like you. This conversation is done. Answer is no.”

“I’ll do your essays for you,” Alice had shut her locker door when he said this. She grappled with the idea back and forth, she was just about to win, pinning the idea down when Ben added “I’ll do your History essays, and your homework for whatever class we have together. For the rest of the year!” The last part seemed to be added in a hurry, but Alice was losing this real quick.

“What’s the big deal? Why go this far? Doesn’t the yearbook club have a photographer?” Alice asked, finally letting her guard down, leaning on her locker and conversing with him properly.

“We did, he transferred to another school. The few people who tried out for the photographer post were mediocre at most and I’m not gunna let a mediocre photo be printed on the school yearbook,” Ben said, as if his pride had caught on fire. Perfectionist. Typical Ben Gross, Alice thought.

Alice sighed deeply, having Ben Gross do her homework and essays for her would be a very easy A. For a moment, Alice thought that he was almost pleading. Ben Gross, begging a girl he barely knew to be the yearbook photographer.

That wasn’t an easy job. It meant she had to be there in every school event, taking photos. School trip, camps, spelling bee, sports meets, extra curricular activities, parents’ night the list went on and on that it made her feel dizzy. She could feel a migraine coming on, but she sighed, not knowing if she would regret her decision.

“No less than an A on my essays and research papers for AP History and Biology. No less than an A on my Algebra II homework. You have to teach me the stuff I don’t understand. For the rest of the year. AND,” she took a breath and continued, “pay me at a rate of $6 an hour.”

It really wasn’t THAT expensive but, knowing Ben Gross, $6 was like a speck of dust. If she didn’t have the newspaper club on her hands, she would’ve let him get away without paying but juggling both the newspaper club and yearbook club? That was an inch away from actual crazy.

“What about AP Literature?” Ben asked all of a sudden. Alice blinked, and realized what he was asking. “You knew we were in the same AP Literature class?” she asked, thoroughly surprised.

Ben shrugged, “I mean, Mr. Wilkins read out one of your poems, he read mine only after he finished reading and praising yours. I was near livid,” Alice’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, that Ben Gross actually paid attention to her?

“Right. Well, no, I can handle AP Literature. It’s the only class I really enjoy,” Alice exclaimed, finally relaxing in his presence, he looked intrigued at her statement but the bell rang and the hallways flitted in action.

“Cool. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. With your camera.”

She forgot to tell him she didn’t have a decent one.


	3. Chapter 3

“Ben Gross asked for your help? Ben. Gross. Are you sure?” Devi was in the newspaper club. Alice had always thought that was a good thing. Devi was the kind of girl who had a lot of plans in her head. A lot of ideas. The problem was that sometimes, her ideas were not all that good. They were out there, but they weren’t remarkable.

“Yes, Devi. Ben Gross. I have four eyes,” Alice motioned to her face, directing Devi’s attention to her glasses, “So I’m pretty sure I didn’t mistake him for anyone else. It was Ben Gross.” Devi made a sound of amusement before turning to Alice with confidence in her eyes, “You said no, right?”

Alice faltered, remembering the conversation they had by the lockers yesterday. “I mean, I didn’t exactly say no…” Devi groaned, lulling her head back.

“Alice, you’re better than that. He’s just using you! I’m pretty sure he’s doing it to spite me too,” Devi prodded. As if convincing her own daughter not to go on a date with the cool jock. Ironic when Devi was all about Paxton Hall-Yoshida.

“It doesn’t make me any less of a person to help someone out, Devi. Besides, we struck a deal. I’m getting a good return for this too,” She felt as if she had to explain herself. A part of her felt like she was betraying the newspaper club and Devi wasn’t really helping with that. “Oh, and here, the photos for this month’s issue,” She rummaged through her backpack, fishing out a white usb from somewhere in the depths, tossing it to Devi who caught it flawlessly and saluted her.

“Well, I’m off… Have something else to do,” Alice slung her backpack on herself. Devi gave her a once over, “Like playing into the hands of the enemy,” Devi whispered with mock-solemnity. Alice shot her a grin—she knew Devi was just playing, she found it amusing—before ambling towards the other side of the school.

It was after-school hours. A significant amount of students were missing. There wasn’t the standard teenage couple kissing, pressed up against the lockers. The jocks repeatedly punching each other on the shoulders were nowhere to be found. Likewise to the wannabe influencers who were 24/7 on their phones.

It was peaceful. Just the occasional noise from a classroom being used for club meeting or practice.

Alice reached her destination. An oak door standing between her and the yearbook club. She was trying to keep the bubbling in her chest to a minimum, she wasn’t very sure what was causing it. Before she could even touch the door, it had opened and revealed to her none other than the yearbook club president, or so she assumed.

Ben glanced at her, and then at his watch. “Bit earlier would’ve been great but since it’s your first time, I’ll let you off for today,”

Maybe Devi was right. Alice thought. Maybe this was a bad idea and maybe she WAS better than just getting verbally abused by someone she barely knew. He opened the door for her, stretching out one arm like a butler guiding a guest to their hotel room.

“Come on in and meet the team,” declared Ben.

Alice silently took a deep breath as she took her first few steps forward into the room. She was running through her introduction in her head, trying to rehearse it again so as not to mess up when she was introducing herself to—an empty room.

She wasn’t even able to utter a word in her confusion. No one was in there, except for him and her. She turned to Ben with a bewildered face that rivalled her Asian mom’s face when she wondered how her daughter got a B on her elementary Math test.

Ben was not fazed at all and didn’t miss a beat, “Nice to meet you, I’m Ben Gross. President and whole team of the yearbook club,” he stuck his hand out, held his head high and regarded her with a sort of self-important look.

“Oh God, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Alice didn’t even take his hand and shook her head slowly, descending into a spiral of metaphorical endless falling. What did she get herself into? “You don’t have a team?!” She finally lost it.

Ben dropped his hand to his side when it was clear she wasn’t in the mood for hand-shaking, “What do you mean? I’m right here.”

Alice stared at him for five seconds, trying desperately to wait for the punchline. It didn’t come. She waited another five seconds for someone to burst through the doors and shout “Just kidding!”. She waited. For anything.

“Oh man, you’re serious,” she whispered under her breath when she finally accepted that the yearbook club was a one-man team.

“I don’t understand what you’re freaking out about, this is the way it’s been since…” Ben paused for effect, “Since I took over. I’d rather work alone. That way no one can drag me down to their pace of doing things,” again with the self-important look on his face.

Alice shut her mouth. A part of her felt sorry for this chap. How did he get on with life? Did he just study and do school stuff 24/7? Would he just go home from school, whip out school work, sleep and repeat the process the next day?

“Alright, okay, look. Just as long as you can keep your end of the deal, I’m good. I’m just a photographer, don’t ask me for help with anything else. No editing, no filing, no transferring of photos to whatever drive you have,” Alice held Ben’s gaze very seriously. The latter didn’t think it was such a grave matter at all.

“Yeah, like I said, I’ve been running this club by myself since a while ago. Piece of cake,” he declared. Lifting his arms up for a moment in a nonchalant shrug.

“Anyways, here’s the calendar,” He grabbed a folder from one of the tables and handed it to her. “It shows you what dates the school events are and I’m expecting you to show up to them, take those photos and pass the memory card off to me. Where’s your camera?”

Alice muttered a small thanks before taking the folder from him, reminding herself that she was going to get paid for this. It was the only thing keeping her from running away from the deal they made. She dropped her backpack on one of the tables and zipped it open, retrieving a small point-and-shoot camera from inside.

Ben stared at the puny camera she was holding up, before shaking his head with a hint of frustration in his sigh. “THAT’S the camera you use?” He immediately pulled his own bag towards him and zipped it open in the same way that Alice did hers, he extracted a rather hefty DSLR to which Alice gasped at.

“Is that the latest model of Canon?” She gasped out, staring at it as Ben held it up for her. Ben blinked, glanced at the camera and stuttered, “U-Uh… Yeah, I guess.” He sounded half confident and half confused. Alice wasn’t sure which one dominated.

He held it our for her, “Found it at home, my dad doesn’t need it anymore. Use it, keep it, don’t really care. Just.Take.Good.Photos,” he emphasized his last sentence. Alice blinked at him, yet again dumbfounded.

He was giving away the latest model of Canon? She was dumb-struck like never before. She knew that Ben Gross was rich. Everyone knew that but it was only at that moment, that it really hit her. He was on a way different level from everyone else. The kind of rich he was, was the kind of rich that celebrities were...or maybe that was an exaggeration. 

She hesitated to take it from him. “Uh…” She started, finally coming back to reality. She picked her hand up and took the camera from him, cradling it carefully in her hands. “I’ll give it back by the end of this, no worries.” Deep inside she was tingling with excitement. She couldn’t wait to try out the functions and study the buttons at home.

Ben watched as Alice took to the camera immediately. She was looking at it all over. The lens, the buttons, the strap. She was immersed in her own world. He had wanted to say something but he’d somehow lost his train of thought while looking at her. Tomorrow, he’d pass the charger and spare batteries to her too.

He cleared his throat and took out his own copy of the school calendar. He saw her jump a little out of her own world and looked up at him. “So tomorrow, it’s the school play. Meet me at the auditorium by 4pm.”

He packed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Deal’s off if you don’t show up,”

It didn’t really sound like a threat to Alice, more of a reminder. She said nothing and only gave him a curt nod. He gave one back and turned away from her. He stopped at the door for a moment, inciting a raised eyebrow from Alice, but as soon as he stopped, he continued on his way and muttered a soft “See you later,” before disappearing out of the door.

Alice let out a pretty long sigh that she didn’t even know she was holding.

This was going to be a long school year.


	4. Chapter 4

The Canon was weighing her down, but it was a good kind of burden. She’d never had such an expensive thing hanging around her neck. What’s more, it was the ultimate photographer’s dream. She fiddled with it throughout the day and now that it was nearly time for the school play, she hung it around her neck like a trophy.

The school play was a peculiar event. The audience was limited, not everyone could watch it mostly because space was limited and whatever seats were available, were reserved for the performers’ or the drama club members’ family.

Alice realized she had been standing at the entrance of the auditorium for a while and there was still no sight of Ben Gross. She had no clue where in the auditorium he would be or if he was even waiting inside. She decided to wait a few more minutes before exploring the unknown inside.

When it was clear in her mind that perhaps Ben Gross arrived here earlier than she did, she stepped into the cold, dark room and started to scan the area for him. There were a lot of people. Mostly parents and some students who were actually interested in the play. Alice heard that this year’s production was special and the lead female was a natural. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

“There you are,” a familiar voice piped up, causing Alice to whirl around on her toes and look up at the taller guy. “I was starting to think you ran away with my camera,” Ben Gross stated, watching the way she cradled it with great care.

She half glared at him, “Well, technically, it’s mine now, isn’t it?” After spending more time with the Canon, Alice determined that Ben Gross shouldn’t take his word back. He said she could take it, and take it she would.

Ben didn’t answer and whipped out his phone instead, “Give me your phone number so that I’m not left wondering whether or not you ditched on a school event,”

Alice obliged and said her number out loud. Ben pocketed his phone and motioned for her to follow him. Turns out he had gotten seats on the second row. The view was spectacular and Alice had become more excited after sitting down.

The only reason she liked the school play was because it was usually an adaptation of a written story. Something like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and sometimes even the more modern ones like Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast.

This year, the drama club chose Wizard of Oz. Alice LOVED the Wizard of Oz. The character development was rich and the story itself was full of morals. Before she knew it, the lights had dimmed and the play had started.

For the first half of the play she was clearly immersed. Dorothy made a wonderful entrance and the rumours were true that the female lead was a great actress. Five minutes into the play she felt Ben nudge her side, whispering “Don’t forget to take photos,”

There was a sense of urgency in his voice, as if not wanting her to forget what she was really here for. She grumbled under her breath and positioned her camera at a non-invasive angle, not wanting to block the view of the audience behind her. She clicked a few photos before looking through them for a few seconds.

The routine would repeat throughout the play but she had stopped for a moment at her favourite part. In Wizard of Oz, the scarecrow asked for brains, while the tinman had asked for a heart. Alice had always thought this part was interesting.

"I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one." said the Scarecrow.

"I shall take the heart," returned the Tin Woodman; "for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world."

Alice hummed a bit after her two favourite lines were said, and without thinking about it, said out loud, “I’d still rather be brainless over being heartless,”

“I’d rather not feel anything than lose the brilliant brains I have,” Ben countered without looking at her, eyes glued on the play as well. Alice side-eyed him in slight surprise, not expecting him to reply to her.

“But if you don’t have a heart you’d never feel happy,” Alice said.

Ben shifted slightly in his seat, still entranced by the stage and muttered, “Yeah but I’d never feel lonely too,”

There was a gasp stuck in Alice’s throat. She was not expecting that answer but it made complete sense. To her surprise, he kept on talking, “This story is nice but not as compelling as The Secret Garden,” it was as if he was in his own trance and forgotten where he had been.

The people sitting in front of them stirred a little bit but at the mention of The Secret Garden, Alice couldn’t help but throw in her opinion too, “The Secret Garden is wayyyy more complex yet endearing. It’s simple, but tugs at your heartstrings,”

“The character growth is realistic too,” Ben added. Still watching the play. The people in front of them stirred yet again.

“I know! Mary and Colin in the story are—”

The woman sitting in front of them finally turned around and eyed Alice and him evilly. “Could the two of you maybe spare your discussion for another time? Some people are trying to watch here,” she hissed.

Alice shut her mouth immediately and Ben looked back at the said woman, surprised. He hadn’t noticed that they were actually having a full blown conversation. Alice muttered a very soft “Sorry,” before returning to watching the play and taking photos. 

By the end of it she had taken a total of 43 photos—not all were useable—she could already tell as she sifted through them rather professionally. They were back in the so called Yearbook club room. Just her and him.

“These ones are fine,” she tilted the camera screen towards him and he peered over to have a look. He scoffed “I can only see half her face!”

Alice rolled her eyes, “That’s the point! It’s aesthetic!” She turned the camera off with a click and a huff, extracting the memory card from it and handing it over to him “Whatever, you choose,”

Her job here was done and she had decided to pack up and do her remaining duties in school. “Here,” A $20 bill appeared in front of her face, along with a few papers.

She straightened up and received it hesitantly. “What’s this?” she muttered, flipping the papers over, discovering that it was tomorrow’s assignments for AP History. “Oh,” she said, sounding unimpressed. “Right,” She’d nearly forgotten that they had struck a deal.

It crept up to her at a turtle’s pace, the realization that she actually had fun today. It wasn’t tedious nor was it difficult. She liked the play and she liked taking pictures. For a split second, she nearly felt bad that she was getting payment for it. In the next second, she had totally convinced herself that not every event would be like this, the next one would probably bore her out of her mind and waste her time.

“What?” Ben Gross raised an eyebrow at her, slightly sounding offended, “I’ll let you know, that’s definitely and A-grade paper,” he concluded.

Alice shook her head and packed the papers in her bag, “No, it’s not that, don’t mind me, thank you,” she stumbled on her words, slinging her backpack on and shrugging. “Anyway, I’ll keep track of the school events, just… call me whenever,” it felt weird saying it but Ben Gross thought nothing about it.

He didn't even look at her when he said “Bye,” under his breath. Alice wasn’t sure why, but that definitely bothered her in a way that a bad grade would.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there guys! Would really really love to know what you think so far of the story. Drop a comment if you can! Very, very open to comments and criticism! Cheers!

“Assignments in your desk,”

“Thanks,”

That was what Ben Gross and Alice Lee’s text messages consisted of. Alice didn’t know what she was expecting, but the next few days flew by in total normalcy… until Friday.

“Tomorrow is the swim meet, meet you at school at 8 am,”

Oh crud. She had totally forgotten that the swim meet was a Saturday. She’d have to tell her mom, and her mom wouldn’t be happy with her sudden change of plans.

“What’s this school event you need to go to again? Why hadn’t I heard about it earlier?” Her mom questioned, still kneading dough while looking at her piercingly at the same time. Alice’s mother had dyed hair. The tawny colour suited her well and complemented her pale yet angular face. She had striking cat-like eyes, just like Alice. It made the “mother’s stare” that much more intense.

“I completely forgot about it ma,” Alice confessed and placed both her arms on the kitchen counter.

“Sureeeeee.” Her mother stopped kneading the dough, “You’ve never missed an event for the newspaper club before, what’s going on?” You know it’s serious when mom starts wiping her hands and places them on her hips. “…and Alice… The swim meet… Are you sure you want to go?”

Alice opened her mouth to say something but it got caught in her throat. Her mind reeled back to memories of her childhood. _Big, lapping waves hovering over her head and coming down at her in full force. Her head surfaces, but another one crashes down on her and she starts to gasp for air in the little gaps between waves. Her legs were getting tired—_

“I—” Alice started, pulling herself away from the memory, “will be okay, ma.” She hadn’t told her mom that she was now juggling a completely different club. She hadn’t told her as well that she was trying to—or at least wanting to—get over her fear of the water.

Her mom raised her eyebrows, and sighed a long one. “Alright, if you say so Alice. You’ve never given me a reason to doubt you before, so I’m gunna have to believe you,”

Internally, she heaved a sigh of relief. Outwardly, she merely rolled her eyes. She had a habit of doing that. “It’s just swim meet ma. Nothing interesting. Plus, Simone is competing!”

When Saturday came the spirit of sportsmanship was on an all time high. Cheerleaders were chattering amongst themselves. The swimmers—some of the most popular guys in school, including Paxton Hall-Yoshida—were talking amongst themselves and giving each other fist bumps.

She was like a stick in the mud. She stood out way too much with her lavender backpack and large DSLR around her neck. The discomfort made her pick up the Canon in her hands and turn it on. She realized there was no memory card so there was nothing to see. She awkwardly put it back down.

It felt like near a century when Ben Gross finally showed up with his signature collar shirt and jeans. “Come on, let’s go,” he said right after handing the now empty memory card to her. “Wait, what?” She muttered while following in a hurry, pushing the memory card into the correct slot.

An actual shiver ran through her spine when she realized Ben Gross was walking towards the school team bus. Both cheerleaders and the swimming team took the school team bus. At the back of her mind she was expecting to take the school bus, but actually taking it was akin to cage diving with sharks.

It was brutally uncomfortable and yet exhilarating.

Ben sat down at the third row, it was a two seater. Alice took a moment, looking around her before moving to sit at the fourth row, just behind Ben.

“Where are you going?” Ben asked incredulously, looking up at her with his mouth agape, expression blank.

“I was going to sit there?” Alice said, not meaning for her statement to come off as a question and pointed at the seat behind him.

“Why? There’s a seat right here.” His thumb jutted out to point at the seat next to him. “And also if you don’t know, the bus capacity is nearly full, you’ll be sitting next to a stranger either way,” his as-a-matter-of-fact voice served to slightly piss her off, but at the same time the swimming team started to clamber up the bus. Lo and behold, Simone was the first one to appear.

Simone’s eyes perked up when she saw her best friend, Alice smiled at her and she ignored Ben’s protest about her seat choice, still ending up sitting on the row behind him, motioning for Simone to sit next to her.

Ben’s eyebrows furrow at the interaction and then it occurred to him that Alice **_did_** have friends. Unlike him, she probably had a few more social connections than he did. Well, at least maybe she had **_real_** ones whereas his social connections were…a girlfriend who only cared about his money—He wasn’t stupid, he knew what Shira was after—and his academic rival Devi Vishwakumar. Ben would call that relationship slightly shambled and fragile: like trying to carry a carton of eggs: one wrong move and who knows which egg will break?

There was a slight hope in his chest that he successfully buried away: he’d hoped that Alice would at least sit next to him and not make him feel like a stick in the mud in this jock and hormone high bus. But that was totally fine. He’s good to sit by himself. Nothing special, nothing new. Just another day.

“Sooo…?” Simone asked as she plopped on the seat next to Alice. “How has it been, working with… Mr. Gross?” She hadn’t toned down her voice at all, and Alice was sure that Ben could hear every word but he didn’t turn around.

“It’s been fine,” Alice locked eyes with her best friend, raising her eyebrows in silent communication. Her eyes darted sideways, telling Simone that Ben Gross was sitting just in front of them. Simone smirked. She knew. “…and I’ve been getting my end of the deal too, so, can’t complain at the moment.” Alice finished.

Simone gave her friend a knowing look and nodded slowly, “Coool…” but her face straightened and her brows connected with worry, “…but, Alice. You don’t like going to swim meet…” Alice pursed her lips and bobbed her head up and down absentmindedly.

“Well… it’s probably time I start getting over it.”

Alice smiled at her friend and Simone smiled back, feeling proud. Simone put her fist up and Alice connected their fists, a silent good luck to both of them.

_“Get over what?”_

Ben Gross thought to himself, staring out the window and listening to the conversation in a nonchalant way. The bus had started moving at this point, the small chatter and murmurs between and among different people had started to get louder. No one sat next to him, and yet when he looked around it seemed as if everyone was sitting with someone. He shook his head, deciding that no one would hold a decent conversation here anyway, what with their high testosterone levels and low IQ. So instead, he pushed his headphones in place over his head.

40 minutes later they had arrived at the venue. Simone had to leave with her team and it was now, yet again, just Alice and Ben. Alice actually had a good time. She thought that being on the bus would be like being in a wedding reception where you didn’t know half the people, but Simone being there made it 1000% enjoyable.

Ben, on the other hand, just took it in stride. Just another day in school. Just another assignment. “Alright, the first match starts in 20 minutes, I got front row seats so make sure you snap the most popular people in the team. People love that on the yearbook.” He grumbled the last part out, as if not wanting to admit that these photos were necessary.

“So… you mean Paxton?” Alice asked as they both started walking, looking up at him for confirmation. For a split second she thought that Ben had rolled his eyes, but it was such a fleeting action that she wasn’t even sure it happened.

“There are **other** popular people in the team, but **yes** , I suppose Paxton Hall-Yoshida is the one who has ladies kissing his feet and men turning gay,” Ben grumbled this whole sentence out. Alice craned her neck forward, her mouth opening in slight shock at Ben’s semi-rant. It sounded to her like **_someone_** was a bit jealous.

Alice didn’t poke on it nor say anything else. She wasn’t quite sure what to say. It was the first time she’d heard or seen Ben riled up in some sort of way and she wasn’t ready to address that part of him, so she ignored it.

Once they sat down on their seats she made preparations by fiddling with the DSLR, trying out the settings and taking trial shots.

“Oh hey!” Alice and Ben looked up from their respective preparation making to see a half naked guy standing in front of them, looking down at Alice and beaming at her.

Alice couldn’t remember for the life of her who this guy was.

“Uh… Hi.” Alice started, still staring at the guy and trying to connect faces to names.

“Cool seeing you here, you took my photos a week ago. They blew up!” The guy started tapping on his phone and opening his social media, shoving the screen on Alice’s face. It was a photo of him, also half naked in his swimming trunks, except that somehow, Alice had managed to highlight his abs. The photo had nearly 500 likes.

Half naked photos do that.

“Alright man, peace out,” the guy called, snatching his phone up and going on his merry way. Alice stared after him for a bit, before shrugging and continuing to prep.

“You’re pretty popular too, come to think of it,” Ben piped up.

Alice didn’t bother looking at him as she fiddled with the camera buttons. “I’m only popular when people need me to be popular,” she started.

She took the camera up to her eye level and snapped a photo “99% of these people wouldn’t even look my way if I didn’t offer them photography services.” She wasn’t bitter about it at all. All she wanted from these people were their money, and in turn, they wanted good photos.

Kind of like…

“Kind of like… This,” She put the camera down and waved a hand between him and her. Indicating that she was talking about the two of them. “You wouldn’t have talked to me at all, if not for me being good at this whole photo-taking thing.”

Ben blinked. His words were stuck in his throat. He looked away because he had no comeback prepared. She had simply stated the truth. He sat on the irony that all of his relationships were probably based on popularity too. People feeding off of his wealth and he realized that Alice was no different from the other people in his life.

Alice wanted money and good grades, Ben wanted good photos.

Simple transaction.

“They’re starting,” Alice’s words knocked Ben out of his trance and made him face forward. Alice stood, trying not to get in the way of other spectators but also trying to get a good shot of the competitors. She moved slightly closer to the pool. She didn’t dare go any nearer.

Paxton was in the first lineup. Thankfully, the DSLR’s zoom function was magical. Alice could see his perfect jawline and angular face. She wondered how much Devi would pay for a photo like this. She smirked before snapping the photo.

The swim meet played on with total normalcy. When it was Simone’s turn Alice made sure that she was the loudest cheerer there. Simone definitely heard her, what with the sudden head turn and slight laughter at her lips.

It was at that moment that someone had shoved her forward, making her take a few steps in shock. She didn’t realize how close she really was to the pool. Her next step didn’t connect with pavement and she felt herself trying to hold on to nothing to prevent herself from falling.

The next instant, someone grabbed her arm and hauled her away from the edge.

“Watch it, the camera’s expensive.” Ben hissed at some passer-by who had knocked Alice off her feet. Ben’s hand was tightly wound around Alice’s arm. He had pulled her back completely unscathed and dry. The passer-by muttered a soft apology.

All around her it felt as if time had stopped. Alice could still hear the whistle signalling the swimmers to start. She could still hear the splashes as competitors jumped into the water, but it was mixed with screaming. _Gurgling. Violent splashes of water. Kicking her feet as hard as she could. Flailing her arms all around._ _A wave washing over her cry for help—_

“Pay attention will you?” She snapped back to reality and was suddenly face to face with Ben, her mouth agape. Ben was saying something about not damaging the camera, he didn’t want to go waste time and buy another one. She shut her eyes tight and shook her head to clear her thoughts, looking back up at him with greater clarity.

“…Yeah, yeah… Sure. Thanks.” She said dismissively, going back to snapping photos. This time, she stuck close to their seats.

Ben set his gaze on her for a moment more, studying her weird attitude today. He wanted to ask what in the world had her so peeved today but at the same time he didn’t really care.

This was a simple transaction:

Money and good grades for photos.


	6. Chapter 6

The whole month passed by without any interesting school events. For a whole month, Alice’s schedule was not as crazy as she thought it would be. It was a big sigh of relief.

Of course, it only lasted a month. Dreadful things were coming her way and despite Ben Gross’ effort on keeping her grades up and her pocket full, she was slowly struggling. Stress started to creep up on her.

On her desk at home, she would sit and ruminate over a pile of books and stack of papers. When she finally forced herself to bed, she would toss and turn and it would feel like she closed her eyes, but the next minute, it was time to wake up and prepare for school.

The reason?

The midterm exams were coming up, and she had been conditioned not to pay attention in class because, hell, Ben Gross was doing her homework. Why did she have to listen?

It was only a month later when she realized during one of the pop quizzes, she didn’t learn jack the past few weeks and let Ben freaking Gross carry her grade. Now she was in trouble.

Something snapped in her head.

She was trying to figure out a math equation, trying to mentally make sense of it in her head. Using smaller numbers to substitute the x and y of the problem.

Again, something snapped in her head.

Ahhh, right, so if h(t) = 24 + 4t – 5t then t would equal to—

**_SNAP. SNAP. SNAP._ **

Alice took a sharp breath of fresh air. Someone was snapping their fingers in front of her face.

“Alice, what is wrong with you?” She then realized it was Ben Gross slightly glaring at her dumbfounded face. “Our school team just won the Science Week Regionals. Did. you. take. a. photo?” His words dripped with venom.

Alice cursed under her breath and started flashing away for some photos. Thankfully she still caught some group hugs and bright smiles from their school team.

Ben Gross shook his head and watched as the girl continued taking photos. She was increasingly distracted, Ben noted, and he wasn’t sure why and again, he didn’t care for much about it, except that her picture quality could be deteriorating too.

When the event was over they’d ended up back at the Yearbook Club Room. Her doing the usual: extracting the memory card from the camera and handing it over so that he could sort through the photos and pick the right ones.

“Thanks,” he muttered and pocketed the memory card.

Alice started to pack up quietly, starting to go back to the math equation in her head. She had been trying to figure it out since yesterday. This was probably the simplest equation and she still couldn’t get a grasp on it.

“I’m not paying you today,”

Her head turned so fast that her hair whiplashed on her face, “What?” She replied him with the same venom that he had earlier.

“I’m not paying you today,” Ben said. It being the most normal thing in the world.

Alice stared him down. Funny enough he didn’t break her gaze.

“I took the photos. I got the job done.” She was trying to be calm but the stress of the past few weeks was starting to creep up on her. “And truth be told that was the most boring school event I’ve been to so far and a total waste of my time, so I actually think I should be paid double,” she finished.

Ben scoffed and looked at her incredulously. “You wouldn’t have taken any pictures if I didn’t literally snap you out of it,” he countered.

Alice let out an exasperated sigh and was about to give him all the attitude she had when he cut her off, “I’ll pay you **after,** you tell me what’s going on,” with a light shrug, he made it seem like it was no big deal.

And for the second time that day, Alice was compelled to ask “…What?”

“Well, you’ve been out of it,” Ben zipped up his bag. “Ever since the swim meet.”

 _The swim meet was a totally different thing, but ok._ She thought.

“And I need your head,” he pointed at her, “in the game, Alice Lee. And your head is **NOT** in the game,” He finished his statement and looked at her pointedly, obviously waiting for some kind of explanation.

Alice stood there, stuck in a hard place. What’d be the use of telling him? Perhaps she should just push through the next few months and just try to get her head in the game. But in the end, she sighed and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

“The midterms are coming,” she offered up as a start, hoping that smartass Ben would piece things together.

“Exciting isn’t it?” Instead smartass Ben beamed at her and started on a whole new conversation about which subject he thought he would do best, but then he would probably do good in all of them, so then he started talking about which exam he would enjoy the most but—

“I’m going to flunk it,” Alice cut him off mid explanation of his love for studying. Ben Gross paused and finally pieced together two and two.

“See, that’s the problem when someone’s doing your homework for you. You don’t pay attention in Algebra II,” Ben smirked and swung his backpack over his shoulder. Alice groaned in annoyance at his childish I-told-you-so games.

“Well, come on,” Ben cocked his head towards the door and Alice looked at him in confusion.

“Where? The event’s done. Day’s over,” she said but still swung her backpack on and followed him.

“You know I’m starting to think you’ve got nothing going for you except your photography skills,” She was actually starting to get used to his insults, but let him continue “The deal was, you take photos, I pay you, do your homework and explain everything you don’t understand in school.”

Alice stopped in her tracks, her head cocking sideways in surprise. “Huh,” she huffed out. She **DID** say that, it just hadn’t jogged up memory lane.

AND more surprisingly, Ben Gross was honouring their deal. “But I’m still not paying you, in return for tutoring you with Algebra II,” Ben said with finality.

Alice stood in place for a moment, struck at the idea that Ben Gross was actually a decent person. She fast-walked in order to catch up with him, about to ask where they were going when he suddenly turned around. “Meet you at the school entrance in 10, we’re going to my place.”

Holy crap.

Ten minutes and a I’m-gunna-be-home-late-because-study-group phone call to her mom later, she was suddenly en route to Ben Gross’ house. In his car, with his chauffeur looking at her weird. She avoided the driver’s gaze and instead looked out the window.

“So,” Ben started, looking at her with that high and mighty smirk on his face. “What part of Algebra II does your brain not comprehend?”

This time, Alice actually rolled her eyes and placed her gaze on him. She flipped her algebra book open and pointed at a formula, a slight shake of the car causing her to grip the book tighter. Ben sweeped the page over with his eyes.

“…You know that’s page 5 of the book? It’s literally the first formula we learned.” Ben looked up at her with a questioning leer.

Alice groaned and leaned her head back on the car seat, whining. “I knowwwww! Oh my God I messed up big time. On top of that I still have other things to study for and the newspaper club is gunna be on my heels for next week’s issue.” She smacked a hand on her forehead and continued grumbling under her breath.

Ben raised his eyebrows. Looks like someone wasn’t good at stress management.

“Well it’s gunna be tough but I think it’s workable. I’ve seen dumber people in my life.” Ben offered with a shrug.

She ended up picking her head up and glaring at him, “Would you cut it out? You’re the reason I’m doing so bad in school at the moment.”

Ben tsked at her and shook his head, “Let’s not forget I’m the only reason that your assignments are stellar.”

“You’re also the reason I’m juggling so much crap at the same time!” She rage whispered at him.

“Oh please, it’s just ONE thing added on your plate. We had three events this month and that’s it. You were **_paid_** too,” Ben countered, recognizing the turn the car was making and unbuckling his seat belt.

“Ugh,” Alice said, defeated. Yes, **maybe** , it was **her** fault that she slacked off on listening during lessons. She got lazy, thinking she didn’t need any of that knowledge because Ben Gross would be doing her homework anyway.

How wrong she was. How stupid, even, to forget that there was something called exams and quizzes. Couldn’t borrow Ben’s brain for that.

Alice was brought out of her trance when her side of the door suddenly opened. She nearly jumped. She didn’t realize they’d arrived and when she stepped out of the car with a small thank you to the driver, she was stunned at the view.

It was not a house. It was a mansion.

“Holy mother of Cheetos…” She whispered, admiring the very modern take on the house. It was very clean looking and elegant. Simple but expensive looking at the same time. Polished.

She strayed outside of the house for a while, thinking that her presence would somehow taint the floor—which was marble by the way—of Ben Gross’ estate.

“What are you doing?” Ben chided her, looking at her weirdly as he was opening the door for her.

Alice blinked and laughed nervously, pointing at her shoes, “Oh, you know, just, wondering if I should leave my shoes outside?”

Ben looked even more confused.

“Yeah, nevermind, Asian thing,” She muttered under her breath and mentally smacked herself on the face before going inside.

The inside was seamless and clean. Just as polished as the outside but now you could see that the furniture was truly something that only someone rich could afford. The hanging modern chandeliers, the open kitchen on the side. Most of it was a marble white and Alice always thought that white was such an easy colour to mess up or dirty, but it was really clean in Ben Gross’ house.

“Umm, your parents in?” Alice asked, it was common courtesy to say hello to the owners of the house she just stepped foot in. After all, she was just an invader in here.

“No, they won’t be back tonight,” he simply said, shrugging his bag off and it landing on the floor. He picked it up again and lugged it over on the living room area, where there was a black coffee table and matching white sofas.

“So, let’s start. No time to waste.” Ben said as he sat on the sofa. Alice hesitated, inching forward while looking around the place, suddenly feeling self-conscious of the fact that she was actually here.

“Oh! Mr. Ben, good to see you back from school. How was it today?” A rather aged looking woman scurried up to the living room area. She had an energetic bounce to her step and stopped short when she realized that Ben had a visitor. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t notice you had a friend over,” Although she was saying sorry, it sounded as if she was more excited than sorry. Alice was a tad bit confused.

“Hey Patty,” Ben smiled at the woman. “This is Alice… from school.” Alice noted the hesitation in Ben’s voice but smiled nonetheless, not wanting to be rude and said a quick hey to the nice lady.

“Oh good, good. Anything to drink?” Patty asked both Ben and Alice, looking back and forth between them.

Ben piped up, “An orange juice would be great, thanks Patty.”

Alice fumbled with her words, not used to being served in a house. “Uh, um. Same, please,”

“I’m gunna go and get some papers,” Ben said, leaving Alice alone in the living area.

Patty scurried her way towards the living area with two glasses of orange juice in her hands, placing it on the coffee table. “Sit, sit!” She urged Alice, who was still stood up with her bag on and everything. She immediately sat down, being the people pleaser that she was.

“Oh it’s so good that Mr. Ben has a visitor. His parents are always busy,” Patty had lowered her voice down to a whisper now, “He’s a very sweet boy, but, how do they say?” Alice could tell that English was not Patty’s first language as she struggled to find the right word. “Just a little rough around the edgy.”

Alice nervously laughed at her and just nodded, not knowing what to say. All the while thinking in her head, didn’t Ben have a girlfriend? Why wasn’t she mentioned?

Patty went about on her business when Ben came back with a few papers and books. He placed all of it on a stack on the coffee table, grabbing his own Algebra book and turning to page 5. “You’d better take notes cause I’m not repeating this again,” he said and started explaining while Alice fumbled to grab her notebook and pen.

30 minutes later and he had given Alice a few math problems to work on. He was mumbling, reading his own thing while Alice silently scribbled solutions on her notebook. She placed her pencil down and did a once over of her work, before turning to Ben and handing him her notebook.

“Done,” she said, rather proud of her achievement.

Ben took his eyes off from his own paper, placed it on the table before grabbing her notebook, silently looking over the answers. Alice’s eyes roamed on the coffee table, landing on the pile of papers that Ben had just set down. They looked to be trivia questions. Random questions, some were so random that Alice wondered what kind of person would actually ask these out of the blue. She picked up the papers and started reading through them.

“Didn’t think you could do it, but it’s all correct,” Ben said, slapping the notebook on her thigh. She was still preoccupied with the paper she was reading.

“What are these questions? It’s like… Something out of a game show.” Alice muttered.

“It’s for the regional quiz bowl,” Ben drawled in a bored tone, then pointed a finger at her. “Ask me any question. Any.” He challenged.

Alice glanced up at him before flipping the papers, trying to find the most difficult question to ask. Then she realized nearly all of them were difficult that she herself couldn’t understand the question. She decided to just read a random one out, “A National Historic Site named after this woman is on the former site of Val-Kill Industries, which she co-founded—”

“Eleanor Roosevelt,” Ben said without even hearing the whole question. Alice dropped the paper in her lap and stared at him in shock. She chose another question, “This man wrote a story in which Captain Kidd’s treasure is revealed to Tom Walker—”

“Washington Irving,” Again he answered without hearing the whole question. Alice continued, pushed to look for a question that he didn’t know the answer to. “This state’s Stony Man Mountain is a landmark on Skyline Drive, which starts in its city of Front Royal—”

“State of Virginia,” Ben crossed his arms triumphantly, eyeing her as he waited for the next question. Alice hesitated for a moment, before hiding her smirk behind the paper.

“This woman was born on the 20th of November 2005 in the modest state of Illinois.” She glanced up to see Ben’s face twisting into confusion. “She moved to California at the age of ten and continued her legacy there. What is this woman’s name?”

Alice peered over the paper with a smug smirk, watching Ben’s face go from confusion, surprise, more confusion and finally realization. He eyed Alice carefully and snatched the paper away from her, “That’s a made up question,” he accused her, to which Alice finally laughed out loud at, finding it funny that he was confused out of his mind.

Perhaps it was the fact that he’d never heard her laugh like that before but he couldn’t hold back the snicker that bubbled up from his throat. Alice tittered at him, “Oh my God, did you actually laugh?” and just like that she was again trying to hold back her sniggers.

“Shut up,” Ben chided, a goofy-trying-to-hold-back-laughter smile on his face. He took the papers and threw it on her head. She half caught it with her hand and let out a last bout of laughter before calming down.

“Stop goofing around and finish the next math questions,” Ben said, nudging her notebook closer to her. She complied and gave back his study papers to work on.

“So when’s the quiz bowl? You’re competing?” Alice casually asked, reading the math problems he gave.

“Yeah, right after the midterms. October 5th,” Ben replied, quickly adding, “You have to be there,”

Alice let the statement creep up on her slowly, a tiny shock running through her, “…What?” she asked, glancing up at him quickly.

“You have to be there,” he replied yet again, “You know, to take photos, for the yearbook,” he hadn’t looked up at her to see the realization wash over her face.

“Oh, right,” The taste of secret disappointment that Alice just swallowed was so bitter that she had completely gone unfocused from her math problems. First of all, what in the world was she expecting? Second of all, why in the world was she disappointed?

She sighed inwardly and continued with her math problems, mentally taking note that this transaction would probably be a longer roller coaster ride than she thought it would be.

Let’s just hope her seatbelt was buckled on real tight.


End file.
